The cabinet meeting on Tuesday approved the provision of five billion baht in soft loans to prop up the tourism industry, and a special insurance scheme to cover foreign visitors to Thailand.
The loan scheme, which goes under the name SMEs Power for Tourism Businesses, will be handled by the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand, Deputy Finance Minister Pradit Phataraprasit said.
Loans will be given to tourism businesses that can show they were affected by the economic and political crises.
The interest rate will be fixed for two years at four per cent. Borrowers will have a one-year grace period and must repay the debt in five years. Individual tourism businesses can borrow no more than five million baht.
The loans will be offered from May 1 to July 31, 2009.
"The government told the SMEs Bank to do its best in preventing non-performing loans from occurring without creating a complicated process, and to provide borrowers with special bank accounts," said Mr Pradit.
He said the loan scheme could assist 2,000 to 3,000 tourism business operators.
The cabinet also approved a proposal to provide travel insurance to foreign tourists arriving in the country, he said.
The project will start on May 1 and run for six months. The insurance will cover accidents and travel delays, including costs caused by political unrest, up to US$10,000 per head.
"Although we believe there will be no more unrest in the country, we must have an insurance system since foreign travel agencies no longer guarantee the safety of tourists here.
''As a result, the government has to find an insurance company to cover foreign tourists," said Mr Pradit.
The budget for this project would be around 200 billion baht, which would insure about five million tourists.
The cabinet assigned the Finance Ministry to select the insurance companies, he said.
Source: Bangkok Post
Thought: I wonder if this insurance also covers overstay and reporting fines should you get injured and can't make it to immigration.
Tourism loans and insurance for foreigners approved
Tourism loans and insurance for foreigners approved
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson